Ishikengo no Kami

Author Notes:

Hello again! Thank you for continuing on to this chapter. I hope you enjoy it as well. Few things first again:

Disclaimer: I have no rights to the character, setting, story and otherwise that have been taken from the original manga and anime Naruto. I will make no money from this, nor do I intend to cost the holders of the original work's rights any money. I do this not to cause trouble, but to express a great appreciation for a wonderful series. I request that the original creator and those who have the rights to it to not look upon this not as a mean spirited infringement, but as a great compliment and free advertising.

Thanks: I would like to thank Tensai-san for beta and proof reading. I would also like to give a big thanks to my friend Joe, whose characters and ideas I am, in part, using. Finally, thanks to Masashi Kishimoto-sensei for creating Naruto in the first place.

Denotation:

"Speech"

'Thought'

Sound

Japanese:

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Yet another day broke in the forest. Luckly, there always seemed to be more days no matter how many were broken. A chipmunk, gathering nuts in a tree, paused as something approached on the road. A figure drew closer. Now all small animals are, by their very nature, scared. You would be too if you knew just how many things there are lurking around that could chomp you down like a piece of pocky. Even so, a very bad feeling was creeping up inside; every instinct told it to run as fast as it could away from the thing. It quickly obliged.

Shortly afterwards, two more figures came into view following the first at a distance. Their heads hung low, their feet dragged and large bags could be seen under their eyes. It was Naruto and Hinata, and they looked exhausted.

"Ah! I'm exhausted." Hinata could only manage a small nod in reply. How long had it been since she'd had a good night sleep? Days. Maybe a week. Not since they'd left Konoha. She'd hardly slept a wink after Naruto had unwittingly called her 'Hinata-chan'. Since then, however….

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"Is that the way you treat everyone who tried to thank you?" shouted Naruto. "You looked like you were going to attack that poor guy! You scared the heck out of him!" Hinata followed quietly. This had been going on for a while now. Alucard just kept walking while Naruto shouted ineffectively at his back. She didn't quite know what to think. One second Alucard was rushing into a burning building to save the farmer and his family, then the next he looked ready to kill them. But something about the look in his eyes just before he had left…

"Hey are you even listening to me? Man, why do…" Naruto broke off as he suddenly noticed Alucard actually was paying attention. He had turned a venomous gaze that threatened to burn a hole in anyone so foolish as to continue talking.

An overwhelming surge of fear hit the genin. It was unreal. They could only stare mutely as a small trickle of blood flowed from the man's eye. Absently, Alucard reached up and brushed the blood from his cheek before turning to leave.

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The night after 'the incident' had proven worse than the night before. In addition to spending the entire night staring at the two of them, his eye had been slowly bleeding the entire time. Neither Naruto nor Hinata slept at all that night. It only seemed to get worse from there.

A black cloud of fear, anger and depression had slowly settled over Naruto and Hinata. Every day was spent walking and talking about things to keep their mind off the situation. Every night was spent huddled together on the opposite side of the fire from Alucard. They didn't even bother trying to sleep any more. With him there, they felt a need to keep an eye on him to feel safe. Besides, even with their eyes closed they could feel him staring.

And every night now they could hear him mumbling in some strange language. It sounded like something that would be spoken by creatures in the darkest of caves. The sound of it gave them the chills.

Naruto hated this. He was supposed to be brave. Not afraid of anything. But something about Alucard's presence struck a primal cord. Naruto was afraid from deep inside. He fought it, but it was still there.

And so with every passing day they drew ever closer to their destination. Hinata felt they couldn't get there soon enough.

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Hinata looked at the boy she cared for so much. His usual energy seemed drained from the sleepless nights. She wanted to say something. To cheer him up, but she knew it was futile. She could barely keep herself going. How had things ended up like this?

"N-Naruto-kun?"

"Huh? Hinata?" His voice still lacked its usual energy. It saddened her. They'd talked a lot over the past couple days, but she had noticed the change. She knew it was in her voice as well. Everything felt so….

"I-I was wondering about Alucard-san. It's just…" she began.

sigh "Let's not talk about him. I'm sick of that bastard. Once I've had a good night's sleep, I'm going to kick his ass." He had said that a lot.

"S-Sorry…"

"…."

"Say, Hinata?"

"H-Hai?" Hinata looked up.

"I was wondering…Why do you always stutter?"

She blushed slightly. She hadn't expected this sort of topic. "W-Well… it's just th-that…I'm just a…a little n-nervous when I t-talk…"

Naruto seemed to think a moment as they walked. "You shouldn't."

"Huh?"

"You shouldn't be so nervous. You're nice to talk to. It's a shame to hear you stutter so much." He said, turning and smiling. He missed the fresh coat of red paint that suddenly appeared on Hinata's cheeks as something caught his eye. "Oh, now what's he up to?"

Alucard had suddenly veered off the road up ahead and was running out into the woods. "Now what's he up to? Come on Hinata, we should keep an eye on him." Grabbing her hand he began to drag her along for the ride. He didn't notice, but his companion seemed to be a little out of it.

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Naruto took stock of his surroundings as he searched for Alucard. Hinata seemed to be out of it for the moment, so Naruto focused on that strange feeling he had always had around Alucard and tried to pick out a direction. He was surprised by the power of it. 'Whoa! What the heck's that?'

Moving between the trees, they eventually came to a small clearing. In the middle of it was Alucard, a big dark green energy swirling around him. His attention was caught, however, by the figure across from Alucard. It was a young boy, about Naruto's age, with an equally huge silvery black aura burning around him.

The sheer power from each of them stunned him. He'd never felt anything like it before. It was beyond anything he'd ever experience before…even the Kyuubi's power from the time at the waterfall paled in comparison. Branches on trees all around them whipped back in the wind flowing from the two, threatening to snap.

Naruto could only stand and watch the sight. The boy seemed to regard the ever-intense Alucard with a careful interest, as if trying to figure something out. "Dragon." Naruto heard the boy say. The voice sounded odd though. It was far too deep for someone their age.

Finaly, after what seemed an eternity the boy's aura faded. "I know that; I'm going already," he seemed to whisper to himself with an unhappy look. Slowly he backed away as Alucard continued to stare at him intently, the aura still burning around him as the boy disappeared into the trees.

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"What the hell was that about?" The aura around Alucard was starting to fade.

Naruto was furious. He'd had just enough of this. Ever since he'd been dragged out of Konoha on this stupid mission that Alucard bastard had been nothing but trouble. He was tired of all of it. He wanted answers and he wanted them now. "Tell me what's going on!" Alucard's head hung low, hand over his eye. He seemed to hear nothing as the livid ninja in orange moved closer to him.

'Naruto-kun…' Hinata knew what Naruto was feeling, but couldn't bring herself to say anything. She was scared…so much energy…but she had to be brave. Naruto was here. If she couldn't be brave while he was around…

"Hey! Are you listening to me?" said Naruto, stepping in front of Alucard. The downcast figure didn't move, his hand not leaving his eye. Naruto still couldn't see his expression, but that didn't matter to him. It did, however, matter to him that he, Naruto, was almost shaking. Why was he so scared? He shouldn't be scared of the bastard!

The fear made him angry. The fact that he was afraid made him even angrier. For days it had been boiling inside and now it was finally unleashing itself. He couldn't stand it any longer.

"I asked what the hell that was all about!"

"If you wish to live to see tomorrow you will shut your mouth now."

The sudden words came with an almost physical force to them that caused Naruto to stumble back a step. It had not so much been a threat as a statement of fact. Naruto staggered back a second step as Alucard suddenly raised his head, murder in his eye. From between the fingers of Alucard's left hand Naruto saw his other eye, tinted red as a veritable river of blood flowed from it, soaking his cheek and staining the mask over his mouth.

That constant feeling of Alucard's presence suddenly grew stronger again the energy began to rise again and surround the bleeding man. The same large dark green chakra returned suddenly. That's when Naruto doubled over in pain.

"Ahh!" It was as if he had been slammed in the stomach. The strange feeling of Alucard's presence had turned suddenly to pain and his abdomen felt like it was on fire. As he topped forward towards the ground, a pair of arms surrounded him. "Naruto-kun!"

The endless flow of blood from Alucard's eye increased, causing him to growl in pain. Waves of black began swirling within his frightful aura, twisting and contorting it. A fresh wave of fear poured over Hinata.

"AHHH!" Alucard cried with pain, gripping his bloody eye tighter and bending again. His muscles tightening and straining against themselves. Turning his face to the sky he let out another scream before suddenly dropping his head and arms. He hung almost puppet like for a moment, towering over the huddled form in front of him. Slowly, shakily, his right hand moved and drew his sword. Naruto didn't even see it from the pain and all Hinata could do was to turn so as to put more of herself in front of him.

The scene hung for a long moment. Hinata holding Naruto protectively on the ground as Alucard stood over them with his sword in the air, his expression hidden by the angle. Hinata shut her eyes tight.

The sword struck.